Single National Curriculum 2020- Early Childhood Care and Education 
                          1.  Introduction 
                     The new Single National Curriculum (SNC) is specifically envisioned as a step towards a unified system of Education for all “in terms of curriculum, medium of 
                     instruction and a common platform of assessment” to ensure equity and quality in education. As such, SNC is expected to raise the floor for quality of education 
                     provided, particularly in terms of content and substance of learning. By providing a unifying framework for education, the curriculum will attempt, over a period 
                     of time, to equalize education across all provinces and territories, across all levels of education. This includes Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).  
                     This document will examine the new ECCE curriculum provided in SNC, and compare it to the earlier 2007 National Curriculum along with the 2017 Punjab and 
                     2018 Sindh ECE curriculums. The document will also examine how much does the new curriculum incorporate recent global research in Early Years.  
                          2.  Framework for ECCE  
                                
                          a.  Framework  
                     The SNC places ECCE within the larger context of Education for All (EFA) goals and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). The Convention on Rights of the Child 
                     (CRC) also features as a key consideration in the curriculum’s design. 
                     However, the SNC does not incorporate any additional insights from research into Early Years as it follows the same framework for ECCE as the 2017 Punjab ECE 
                     Curriculum, at times often matching it word-for-word. For instance, the six theories of development and learning deployed in the SNC have been copied directly 
                     from the interpretation offered in the 2017 Punjab Curriculum. These theories are as follows: 
                          -    Brain Development in Early Years  
                          -    Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development 
                          -    Vygotsky’s Theory of Sociocultural Development 
                          -    Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory of Child Development 
                          -    Erik Erikson’s Theory of Social Emotional Development 
                          -    Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences  
                     The SNC document focuses on holistic development through a set of major domains that it considers central to early years development. These are as follows: 
                          -    Physical Development 
                          -    Social and Moral Development 
                          -    Emotional Development  
                          -    Language Development 
                          -    Cognitive Development 
                     The domains are then further categorized into a set of competencies that every child is expected to acquire during their stay in ECCE classrooms. Each 
                     competency is accompanied by a set of Expected Learning Outcomes (ELOs) and ideas for implementation.  
                          b.  Timeframe  
                     Globally, the need for a 2-years progressive ECCE programme is duly recognized. A 2-year programme has enough space to cover a wide range of learning 
                     outcomes and prepare children for primary school. For instance, the recent Sindh ECE Curriculum has a 2-year plan for children in ECCE which covers a much 
                     wider range of learning outcomes as well as auxiliary ECCE components. There are separate competencies for children aged 3-4 and 4-5, encouraging a 
      continuous updating of learning outcomes as children progress further into schooling. It allows for children to be part of an extended early years school system to 
      ensure their familiarity and preparedness for future education while also allowing for teachers/service-providers to track their progress effectively.  
      While the SNC also recognizes the need for a 2-year programme, it does not explicitly specify it as mandatory. The curriculum is designed in a way to allow for 
      both options (1 and 2 years) as per need. This method is understandable given the resource constraint some sub-regions face in providing ECCE for 2-years. 
      However, it is possible that this might not raise the floor for ECCE learning across Pakistan, as some are allowed the option of just a 1-year ECE programme. 
       
        c.  Executive Function 
      While the SNC covers a wide range of competencies and key learning areas for ECE, there is one noticeable omission— executive function. Recent studies 
      demonstrate that executive function is a key part of early years growth and is crucial to child development and positive outcomes later on. There is no 
      competency, learning outcome, or even a mention of executive function related skills including cognitive control, self-regulation, and work memory etc. Nor do 
      any of the ELOs for other domains provide any specific step suited for the development of executive function skills in children. This is an important omission 
      considering the theories the SNC curriculum builds upon do focus on these skills as does recent research, including that from Harvard’s Center on the Developing 
      Child.  
      Similarly, globally developed tools for early years assessment including MELQO and IDELA have specifically developed categories for executive function. For 
      instance, a 2018 systems research study on early years learning in Punjab adapted the global MELQO tools for localized adaptation and assessed 650+ children for 
      various domains including executive function. The study found out major gaps in executive function learning for children.  
       
        d.  Play-based learning and Parental Involvement 
      Closely related to the acquisition of executive function skills is the concept of play-based learning. As updated research shows, play-based learning is meaningful, 
      iterative, joyful, socially interactive, and actively engaging for children which enables the development of a wide range of skills. It starts at home but is ultimately 
      built upon at the school, inside ECE classrooms. Moreover, it is highly recommended that play-based learning is not viewed as an isolated side-activity, but 
      through a systems-lens where governments and schools develop it into a holistic, unified learning approach situated at the center of child development.   
      While the SNC does include play as component of its plan and suggests play-based activities in its implementation suggestions for various ELOs, it does not 
      provide any coherent framework for how, and if, play-based learning is to be undertaken at a large-scale, systematic level. The document cites Bennet’s 1997 
      research on early learning without adding anything from recent years. There is also a mention of low-cost, waste materials for play but no concomitant 
      instructions for classroom settings and teacher training that deal with how to create enabling environments for play. It is possible that play-based learning, as a 
      particular mode of pedagogy, is not necessarily a key priority area for the SNC. Like other components, the interpretation for play-based learning is taken directly 
      from the 2017 Punjab curriculum, with no update.  
      Relatedly, there is no comprehensive plan and/or suggestive framework for involving parents in ECCE. While individual competencies and SLOs do involve 
      parental engagement in a limited capacity, the document itself does not prioritize parental involvement and home-learning as a key component of early years 
      learning. This is particularly a drawback in the post-COVID-19 situation, as school closures have underlined the importance of parental involvement in ensuring 
      effective development outcomes for children. As the Human Capital Project and other researches show, there is a high possibility of human capital being  
      Going forward, planning for ECCE will have to incorporate play-based learning and parental involvement. There are also examples from civil society in Pakistan on 
      how to design curriculums/learning plans involving play-based learning and how to engage parents.  
                      
                           e.  Nurturing and Child Protection  
                     As more and more data highlights the vulnerabilities young children face, it is important for education systems to explicitly identify child protection as a priority 
                     area. Similarly, child care and nurturing outside of school—equally important with regards to emotional growth, health and learning—has to be acknowledged as 
                     a fundamental component of a good ECCE program design. The SNC can serve as a good repository of the government’s view on this and the planning framework 
                     they envision for this component.  
                     The Health, Hygiene and Safety domain provides multiple SLOs relevant to child safety including environmental safety and child security. However, there are 
                     limitations to how far SNC has achieved this. The document itself does not mention child protection as a systematic process that involves caregivers, schools, and 
                     teachers. Furthermore, as is the case with parental involvement, there are no instructions for how nurturing and child care. On the other hand, nurturing appears 
                     as a major priority area in Sindh’s ECCE curriculum. 
                      
                           f.   Inclusive Education 
                     Inclusive Education has become a key priority area globally, particularly after the 2015 declaration of the SDGs. The theme for this year’s Global Education 
                     Monitoring Report (GEMR) was ‘Inclusion’. Pakistan itself has actively recognized the importance of inclusive education. Efforts are underway to ensure that the 
                     school systems are as inclusive as possible. There is also a growing recognition of the multiple dimensions of inclusion— ability, gender, ethnicity, religion, socio-
                     economic background, refugee status etc.   
                     Within that context, the SNC highlights ways in which this can be achieved. For instance, in multiple ELOs, the SNC updates and improves the language of earlier 
                     curriculums by making them as inclusive for other religions as possible (as recorded in the next section). Particularly noteworthy is the second competency within 
                     the Personal, Social, and Emotional Development which encourages collaboration with others regardless of “any differences, such as, in gender, ability, culture, 
                     language and ethnicity.”  
                     Similarly, in guidelines for learning materials development, SNC implores the developers to ensure that in the stories within the curriculum, minority characters 
                     (or differently abled) including girls are given agency and are seen taking initiative on their own. It asks developers to reconsider if there are stereotypical gender 
                     roles within the stories.  
                     Nonetheless, one of the key dimensions of IE—integrated education for children with disabilities (CWDs)—is noticeably absent from SNC. Despite Pakistan’s 
                     commitments to SDG 4, including its 4.8 subgoal on inclusion, the curriculum does not deal with disability in early years in any systematic method. There is no 
                     information that can be gleaned from the document in either the competencies, teacher training, or classroom environment that would showcase government’s 
                     implementation plan for ensuring that CWDs in early years are provided quality education. This is despite the recent efforts by the governments in the provinces 
                     to update their sector plans and education policies to ensure inclusion.  
                           g.  Learning Environments  
                     The SNC has a detailed section on creating positive and conducive learning environments in classroom, required competencies for ECCE teachers, and guidelines 
                     for learning materials development. This section is taken verbatim from the 2017 Punjab Curriculum. The section contains instructions and guidelines on: 
                           -    Creation on dedicated Learning Corners (GOSHAY) in classrooms such as: 
                                i.        Language Corner 
                                ii.       Library Corner 
                                         iii.         Art Corner 
                                         iv.          Math Corner 
                                         v.           Science Corner 
                                         vi.          Home Corner 
                                  -      Daily Routine for ECE Classrooms 
                                  -      Guidelines for developing criterion of assessment including recordkeeping, progress tracking, and portfolio for children 
                                  -      Key Competencies for ECCE teachers 
                                  -      Guidelines for creating learning materials and teacher’s guide book  
                           However, aside from the implementation of the teacher’s guide, the section does not provide any detailed steps or mechanisms for how to undertake all the 
                           instructions provided. Moreover, the section does not include any new insights gained from the implementation experience of provinces, particularly Punjab and 
                           Sindh. This effectively sidelines any possible learnings that could’ve been gleaned from ECCE service-provision already in place by the government. Additionally, 
                           the curriculum does not provide any additional instructions for how non-government service-providers are to incorporate these instructions into their ECCE 
                           systems. 
                            
                                  h.   Medium of Instruction and Localization 
                           SNC upgrades over previous curriculums with regards to mother tongue. The language and literacy competencies are explicitly specified to be taught in the child’s 
                           mother tongue, with gradual transition into Urdu and English. However, in its larger framework, the SNC still prioritizes Urdu and English as the language a child 
                           has to eventually shift towards. When it comes to writing and recognizing text, there is no explicit instruction to use mother language. The only options provided 
                           for are English and Urdu. The global importance of English and the national importance of Urdu as a mode of communication makes this prioritization seem 
                           reasonable. Nevertheless, this seems to be incoherent with the global consensus on the important of mother tongue in aiding child development in early years. 
                           There are also no coordinated instructions for material development in mother tongue/local languages to be used for teaching. There is, however, clear 
                           instructions on printing teaching materials in Urdu. Similarly, the process of localization of the material is left up to the teachers without any concomitant 
                           instructions/guidelines on how to undertake this. It is possible that this process would lead to wide divergences in the overall teaching of ECCE and thus affect 
                           standards of learning dependent on resources, time, and provider capacities.  
                                  i.     Intersectoral Coordination  
                           There is an increased element of multi-dimensionality in ECCE as multiple sectors come together to provide the best care for children. This would necessitate 
                           active engagement from multiple stakeholders including health and nutrition service-providers, civil society, policy researchers, and international development 
                           institutions. 
                           The SNC recognizes this and there are multiple competencies designed to incorporate assistance from other stakeholders such as the Health and Hygiene 
                           instructions on introducing children to Lady Health Workers—one of the most important front-line personnel involved with child care.  
                            
                                  3.  Mapping Competencies: 
                           A mapping exercise of competencies between the three curriculums—SNC, Punjab 2017, and National Curriculum 2006 – demonstrates that SNC builds up on the 
                           work of earlier two. Most competencies and ELOs are listed ad-verbatim from 2017 Punjab curriculum. However, there are a few cases where the SNC updates 
                           the competency requirements and ELOs.